Wolf (Clash)
Wolf is an unlockable playable character in Super Smash Bros. Clash. He leads the space crew known as Star Wolf, a mercenary group and rival clan of Fox's. Wolf himself is one of Fox's main rivals, although the two have teamed up to face off with greater threats. During the Dark Tournament, Wolf's team is still under bounty by the Cornerian Army. As the Army is a bit determined to hunt him and his crew down, he enters the tournament to clear his name and prove he's not quite the monster they believe. Wolf's Dark Tournament storyline is also notable for chronologically being the last one before the actual tournament takes place in the Last Story. Wolf is a really good character at inflicting chip / shield damage, creating frame traps, and keeping someone under heavy pressure. If you play your cards right, it's not very hard to give your opponent very little breathing room with Wolf. Means of Unlocking Changes from Brawl to Clash Wolf, aside from his new specials and a new Neutral Aerial, hasn't had any major moveset changes from the previous game. He's a fairly balanced fighter still, not really having many major holes or excesses in his gameplan. He's notable being one of the least changed characters in the transition between titles in terms of damage and knockback. Most of his changes are small modifications to his frame data than anything else. Buffs *Can now crawl. *Larger ledge sweespot. *Many of his attacks have increased shieldstun. *Blaster travels Final Destination distance. *Forward Aerial now has on-hit follow-up. *Slightly increased grab range. *Up Smash now has Interruptable as soon as frames frames 30-33 *Dash Attack can be canceled into a jump on hit frames 18-26 *Up Throw launches. Nerfs *Blaster has 3 frames more recovery time. *Slightly slower air speed *Back Aerial has 4 frames more recovery. *Forward aerial first hits frame 9-11; compare 7-9. Pros & Cons Wolf has received a fair few notable changes from his old Brawl counterpart. Wolf at first looks like your typical rushdown character; find a way to get in, land some combos and KO the fighter. While Wolf is good at that, he really shines when he is right in the opponents face and assaulting the opponent's shield and quick attacks with a ton of different punishes and mix-ups. Wolf's lockdown is the best in Clash. There is no debate whatsoever on this. Wolf can keep players locked down for a very long time if they do not have answers to his Star Rampage or his excellent ground normals. He has a short, but existant air dash and fast air speed to give him great airborne mobility alongside his dominant aerial attacks. Almost everything Wolf is capable of pulling out is very fast and has some range on it. Wolf also has a very strong defensive game for a rushdown character thanks to his Reflector "counter" tricks, good projectile and heavy frame advantage. Wolf is also capable of some really strong combos, is great at punishing mistakes and has some of the best Final Smash quotes in the game. Wolf's low armor rating combined with above average weight make him pray to some longer strings though. Wolf does have an alright projectile on his own, but it's nowhere close to the best and Wolf has no excellent way of punishing projectiles thrown out from half screen or so. A Wolf player also needs to have FAST fingers as some of his damaging combos have very little time for leeway and his Star Rampage is nigh useless if you can't get it mashed out fully consistently. Wolf also has a very small ledgesweetspot and bad grab range like in Brawl. Wolf is probably the most frustratingly difficult character in the game to fight against, assuming the player is of a high level. He has so many mix-ups and pressure options it's almost ridiculous, but like all characters, his game plan has some noticeable flaws that prevent him from being the absolute most dominant character. Wolf does have some problems actually getting in for his insane mix-up game which prevents him from shining in some match ups. That said, he still will not let you win that, Star Fox. Pros *Balanced character who doesn't really do poorly in any statistic aspects. *Amazing pressure and lockdown game; the best in Clash. *Arguably the least predictable character in the game. *Great, fast normal attacks with alright range. *Blaster, reflectors and some safe normals provide him with defense. *Some powerful combos under his belt. Cons *Low armor rating *Major problems dealing with dominant projectiles *A scrub Wolf is noticeably easier to destroy than other scrub characters because of how unsafe some of his moves are *Loses a lot of control over the match once the opponent finds a way of dealing with Star Rampage on block. *His very small ledge sweetspot gives him some recovery problems. *Bad range on his grab and only has two useful throws. Moveset Ground Moves Normals *Neutral Attack: Wolf performs a slashing attack, then a follow-up slash, then a biting attack. This comes out VERY quickly (frame 4 start-up) and all the hits are pretty safe on block; some characters with very fast grabs may be able to punish the third hit though. The first two hits work great as combo starters (even comboing easily into several of Wolf's finishing attacks) and as tick throws. The third hit isn't a very strong attack in general but is a bit stronger than most other jab combos. **Damage: 3% first hit, 2% second hit, 4% third hit *Side Strong Attack: Wolf leans forward a bit and does an overhead slashing attack with both hands. Can be angled down or up but the properties don't change much. This is a very fast, long ranged, powerful tilt that hits twice. The first hit of the attack has very heavy hitlag, allowing you cancel it into a Berseker Rush for an easy and damaging combo. Some players may only block the first hit and be put in a false sense of security, letting you connect with the second hit that has strong knockback for a tilt and at low percents combos into a Berserker Windmill or Blaster pretty easily; which depends on the fighter. The move itself isn't very hard to combo into either thanks to it's very fast (7 frame) start-up. Unless perfect shielded, this is very hard to punish if both hits connect. **Damage: 4% first hit, 7% second hit, 11% total *Up Strong Attack: Wolf kicks straight upward, jumping a bit so you can use this to dodge some low hitbox attacks and hit someone; ie Donkey Kong's Hand Slap. A very fast move with a sweetspot at the tip of Wolf's foot; most characters can be KOed below 150% with the tip. Has a fairly misleading hitbox; there is an invisible horizontal disjoint in front of Wolf's leg. The speed and power also make this an excellent anti-air option. **Damage: 10% *Down Strong Attack: Wolf performs a quick kick that hits low. Extremely fast attack capable of tripping and a good shield stabber, as well as attacking while moving low to the ground thanks to Wolf's new crawl ability. Has some good follow-up options, but outside of a combo you probably aren't going to use this a lot. **Damage: 6% *Dash Attack: Wolf performs a running circle kick. This is a move you may want to combo into since you can cancel it on hit into a jump and thus guaranteed juggles. It's not safe at all when blocked and is very laggy, though, so you should basically never be using this except in a combo or you're going for a DACUS. **Damage: 9% Smash Attacks *Side Smash Attack: Wolf lunges forward with his arm stretched out. This comes out VERY quickly, moves Wolf a fair distance and has a TON of range on it; one of the longest range physical attacks in the game. You're mostly going to be using this as a punisher or anti-air attack. The good damage, range and speed lets you use this as a very good punish to even some long range weapon attacks like King Dedede's Side Strong or even as a move to hit attacks out of start-up frames if used on reaction. For a Side Smash, though, this is really weak. It has alright knockback sure, but for this type of attack, it's not strong at all and probably isn't going to be KOing much. Mostly unsafe on block. **Damage: 5%+10% (15%) charged, 7%+14% (21%) charged *Up Smash Attack: Wolf performs a scissor kick which hits twice. This is Wolf's slowest normal attack on ground, but it still only takes 11 frames to perform. The large hitbox on this move (covers most of Wolf's body) makes this an alright DACUS. Does nice damage and also ends pretty quickly; not a lot of characters can punish this on block. This also now has some IASA frames, which allows you to do all sorts of nasty things on hit with this attack including combo into Final Smashes. **Damage: 6%-12% (18%) uncharged, 8%-17% (25%) charged *Down Smash: Wolf slashes along the ground twice; once forward and once back. An extremely fast, easy to combo, low lag and powerful Down Smash that kills under 125% and is undeniably Wolf's most reliable finishing attack. This will hit every cast member OTG making this great after landing a tech chase. Many people would say this is one of the best Down Smashes in the game if not the best. Like in Brawl, this has the distinction of being the strongest Down Smash among the Star Fox characters like how Fox has the strongest Up Smash and Falco has the strongest Side Smash. **Damage: 13% uncharged, 19% charged Aerial Moves *Neutral Attack: Wolf kicks down at a 45 degree angle. The hitbox surrounds most of Wolf's body except for his head and the tips of his arms, so it can be useful as an air 'shield' of sorts. Comes out pretty quickly and has a lot of active frames with minimal ending or landing lag. Not much damage or knockback, but the speed properties make it a decent attack. **Damage: 9% *Forward Aerial: Wolf slashes the air right next to him. Good speed, knockback and horizontal reach but has enormous lag when you land during it. To remedy this, it is possible to auto-cancel it. Solid attack as long as you aren't too close to the ground. Also has a special follow-up attack explained below. **Damage: 11% **Follow-Up: By pressing Down + Attack after a successful Forward Aerial connects, Wolf cancels the Fair animation and performs a dunk slash of sorts that is a semi-spike which sends a foe flying EXTREMELY quickly. Useful for getting a target off the stage. Does 10%. *Back Aerial: Wolf kicks backward, yeah. You could make a solid argument for this being Wolf's most important attack. It comes out almost instantly, has decent recovery, is very strong when kept fresh, and has very high priority (clashes with or out-right beats several disjoints). You can make it work very well as an approach, as a killer, a combo attack, a tick, or several other things. At almost all stages of Stale Move Negotiation this is pretty safe when blocked. This is quite simply an amazing move. **Damage: 13% *Up Aerial: Wolf slashes at the air right above him. You can auto cancel this, even though it doesn't have quite the landing lag the forward aerial does. Fast with a decent amount of active frames with low knockback but high hitstun. The best use available for this attack is as a juggle, since you're very rarely killing with this thing you may as well have it dry. **Damage: 12% *Down Aerial: Wolf smashes both of his hands down to Meteor Smash opponents. It's not the strongest meteor out there, but you can combo into it without much difficulty since it's a fair bit faster than most meteors. Still very slow compared to a lot of Wolf's attacks though. Also notable for inflicting a TON of hitstun if it hits a grounded opponent, so if you can get the auto cancel timing down you can do some nasty combos with this. **Damage: 15% Grabs and Throws *Grab: Quick swipe. Still bad range-wise, but not quite as much of a problem as it was in Brawl. The pivot and dash grabs don't appear to be much more useful. *Pummel: Quick knee to the gut. One of the fastest pummels in the game, although very weak. **Damage: 1% *Forward Throw: Wolf punches the foe, launching them forward. Has a couple follow-ups at low percents, like into a Side Smash but that's about it. **Damage: 7% *Back Throw: Wolf throws the opponent behind him and then slashes at them, sending them up. There doesn't really appear to be anything you can do with this other throws can't do, sadly. **Damage: 7% *Up Throw: This has Wolf throw the opponent up, then slash at them. This launches the opponent for an air combo which is pretty handy to rack up good damage. **Damage: 7% *Down Throw: Wolf throws the opponent into the ground, jumps on them and slashes at them. A pretty good throw for Wolf since at low percents there's a lot of potential follow-ups to it and you can also use it as a powerful semi-spike. Also Wolf's most damaging ground throw. **Damage: 12% *Air Throw: This has Wolf claw the opponent forward, yeah. Not much you can follow it up with but it has better range than Wolf's ground grab. **Damage: 10% Special and Super Moves Standard Special Move: Blaster The standard Star Fox projectile. Wolf takes out a blaster with a bayonet underneath the barrel and shoots a green bullet of electric energy. This is a pretty good projectile. It has ok recovery time, reaches stage length on most places and comes out quickly, although unlike a lot of projectiles in this game, it's not safe when blocked close. You would generally like to use this when you're not in range for Berserker Rush lockdown to score some chip damage and get the opponent in position for a potential block / dodge punish. Also noteworthy is that you can not duck under it with any character like Fox's blaster and all of Falco's straight forward tilt blasters. Unlike the other Star Fox character guns though this can not be rapid fired and Wolf is forced to recover after each shot. In exchange, it's a fair bit stronger and also hits up close for good knockback. Also notable is that thanks to the new hitstun system, hitting with the bayonet automatically combos into the normal blaster at low percents and does not count as two hits in the damage scaling system. Not the best projectile attack out there but it has uses. Really, having a move like this is a huge boon for Wolf since he's a very up close and personal fighter who wants to rush and leave an opponent defenseless as quickly as possible. Having a projectile to make the fight against keep away / zoning characters easier as well as give other up close fighters approach problems is a good thing indeed. Bayonet hit does 4%, close shot does 6% and far shot does 5%. All variations of this move's hitbox does 1% chip when blocked. Side Special Move: Star Rampage *The base version of this attack can be button mashed for more hits and damage. *This is an Armor breakthrough attack that deals the same hitstun and frame advantage on block/hit against every character in the game. This is Wolf's new mega monster move that really defines his game in the new world of Super Smash Bros. Clash. Wolf performs an overhead slashing attack and follows up with a few more dashing slashes in a quick pattern. Holding the Special button during the initial attack has Wolf instead immediately cancel into his Reflector as if you just tapped Down + Special for it. Pressing Attack during this version of the Reflector has Wolf disappear, and then appear right next to the closest opponent and perform a powerful slashing attack. All versions, including the Reflector, leave Wolf in helpless state if used in the air but they all function the same. Quite simply, Wolf's ultra mix-up, chip / shield damage dealer, decent killer move if you have the button mash timing down, all purpose attack. Your goal with Wolf, quite simply, is to get in range for the base version to land; blocking or otherwise. Once you have landed this thing once, you have major control over the match since it provides some small frame advantage for Wolf to do a variety of things.... if you mash it right. If you land any version of this other than the 10 hit version, this move isn't safe. The 9 hit version is -5; enough for some characters to grab you (or punish with an invincibility frame attack) out of whatever you try to follow it up with. The 10 hit version offers +6 on block. Also notable is that for mashing, you have to alternate between pressing Attack and Special buttons to increase the effectiveness of the move. Every 2 successful alternations provides another hit; up to 4 additional hits. You have about 22 frames inbetween each successful mash hit to perform the alternations again. This, to say the least, is much easier said than done. If you want to get good with Wolf, you are demanded to have fast fingers. Reasoning behind it would be... ... this attack starts up in 11 frames, giving all characters (even R.O.B., due to the property above) only five frames to react with something before the next Rush hits. Wolf can punish start-up lag counter attacks by using one of his normals (which come out faster than Star Rampage, but they aren't as safe) and if that's blocked cancel it into another Star Rampage for continued lockdown or Star Rampage -> Reflector cancel / just the Reflector and abuse the invincibility frames. The latter is useful to give some of the EXTREMELY few things that generally give the Rush problems (command throws, and especially command throw Final Smashes) problems. Mix options up frequently to give the other fighter a really hard time anytime this is blocked. About 6 of the fully mashed version breaks Bowser's shield at almost maximum durability (if Bowser blocked something like the first two hits of a neutral attack before this, then this breaks it with 6 repeats), and most other characters in 4-5. Alongside the very noticeable shield damage, characters will also be taking some big chip damage. If you keep someone locked long enough before countering, that damage really adds up. Note that this attack also has a very long recovery period if it misses entirely, so if the opponent perfect shields the last hit to jump out of it or something similar they can punish Wolf. Also, there is some a VERY small timeframe for the second-to-last and last hits to link and gives the opponent frame advantage (-2 for Wolf, the 10 hit version is -3) on block to VERY QUICKLY activate an invincibility frame attack or something else very fast to punish it. It's not often you'll see a frame perfect Star Rampage punish but it is very possible. Link and Toon Link can also punish you by using their Triforce Advance technique to push you forward and put yourself in a perfect punish position. If you do land it without being blocked, for example in one of Wolf's ground combos, you should still be mashing it out because the knockback on it is pretty heavy compared to base versions. Kill percent comparison against Mario, if this is the first hit in a combo, can be seen below: *Minimum mash, 6 hits: 250% (mostly useless, even to combo from thanks to high base knockback) *7 hits: 215% *8 hits: 180% *9 hits: 163% *Maximum mash, 10 hits: 146% The 10 version will not kill exceptionally early, but it is enough to get the job done especially if you land it in a combo since hitstun scaling (thanks to this moves enormous hit count) prevents you from following this up after a long combo. Clash canceling early versions during the first 1-5 hits can extend combos and prevent hitstun scaling from going to far later down the road. It's generally very hard to combo off any version of this move without using an Assist or a Clash Cancel since they provide barely any frame advantage on hit for significant follow-ups. Basically your only real combo off this is a cancel into Bayonet Fatality. The air version works exactly like the ground version and can be useful to recovery, but Donnell Launhcher usually does the job several times better than this, plus there is the fact that move can grab ledges. As mentioned above, the Reflector cancel is useful in blocking mix-ups to counter people. What about that last version, though? It's a psuedo-teleport of sorts; it's tracking abilities aren't very long at about a little less than 1/4th Final Destination and if it is blocked or just flat-out whiffed most of the cast can punish you ridiculously easily. Due to being a teleport-style attack though, invincibility is apparent for most of the attack and you can use this attack to hit opponents out of high-recovery attacks from a long distance. This is best to do WHILE they recover instead of during the attack because this slash doesn't have much priority on it. Also, if you use Star Rampage on the ground but the teleport ends up with you in the skies, this attack will not leave you helpless. This move is absolutely incredible and enormous game changer against 60 of the 62 characters in Clash. If you have fast fingers, you should be abusing the wonders of this move (although, as mentioned above it has some very hard to exploit holes) to create incredibly difficult situations for an opponent to counter. The base Star Rampage attack does 6-10 hits depending on button mashing. Damage chart: *6 hits: 2-2-2-1-1-4 (11%, 3% chip if everything hits) *7 hits: 2-2-2-1-1-1-5 (13%, 2% chip if everything hits) *8 hits: 2-2-2-1-1-1-1-6 (15%, 4% chip if everything hits) *9 hits: 2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1-6% (16%, 4% if everything hits) *10 hits: 2-2-2-1-1-1-1-2-8% (19%, 5% if everything hits) *Reflector: 3%, no chip *Teleport Slash: 13%, 3% chip Up Special Move: Donnell Launcher *The base version of this attack can be button mashed for more hits and damage. You can also rotate the control stick to increase the distance slightly. Wolf pauses, then quickly spins around in a chosen direction while moving in said direction. It ends in a powerful kick to the opponent's chin. Sounds a bit similar in animation to his old Up B which had a name screwed up beyond belief, but there are a few more offensive applications to it. It has some invincibility frames on it; the first 3 frames actually. It's not much but it does allow you plow through some things, most notably your own Berserker Rush. It's heavy on start-up (the first 3 frames come nowhere close to covering the entire start-up) at 18 frames and is very unsafe though. Some more hitstun heavy attacks (first hit Ftilt for example) allow you to combo into this, but Wolf has better options. It's a great recovery move since every possible part grabs ledges and the invincibility really comes in handy to quickly sneak through any last chance gimps. Mashing this generally doesn't make it much safer, but a little more powerful. Same goes for control stick turns to make this even better as a recovery move; the distance you get as extra isn't much but it's something at least. The mashing also provides you with slightly more leeway than the Side B since you only need to mash on Special. This attack does 3-5 hits, each hit doing 3%. The entire attack does 2-4% in chip. Down Special Move: Reflector Wolf uses his reflector to create a pink aura that will reflect 1 priority or lower projectiles that hit Wolf from left or right. The opening 6 frames are invincible and deal a little bit of damage. It works well to counter any predictable attacks your opponent makes thanks to the invincibility. If you successfully connect with it, Clash Cancel the Reflector or cancel into Wolf's Clash Attack for some damaging combo work. Of course, you can also use this as a projectile reflector. Projectiles you reflect go whatever projectile stamina (travel distance) they have left if they are capable of disappearing, but Wolf reflects them back at double speed. Handy. Like with all reflectors, you can't reflect any projectile with over 2 priority with this. Examples of attacks you can't send back at people are all super projectiles and beams, Mewtwo's Shadow Ball at full charge, Pikachu's Thunder and others. This attack does 3% and no chip damage. Clash Attack: Star Wolf X *Done with Forward, Down, Down Forward + Special + Attack. *Uses 1 bar of Wolf's Clash Attack Meter. Wolf crouches then quickly dashes forward (1/2 Final Destination distance) with a slashing attack. If it connects, he instantly follows it up with all his tilts, smash attacks and aerials ending in a powerful slash through the opponent's body with Wolf muttering "Can't let you dodge that, Star Wimp." If this is done in a 3 or 4 player match, Wolf keeps going until he catches all players in the match, if it is possible. This is actually a pretty good super. It's very easy to combo into since the range is great and the start-up is fast; most of Wolf's normals and specials can be canceled or juggled into this for big damage. The final hit of it kills around 70% after taking the initial hits into account, also making it a good finisher. It's generally not a good idea to use this outside of a combo unless you can catch multiple fighters with it as mentioned above, mainly because the initial priority isn't high and it has no invincibility to barrage through projectiles with. While Wolf does enjoy having meter for Clash Cancels, this is a really good super for him and Wolf players shouldn't be reluctant to spend a bar or two on this each match. The first 16 hits deal 1% each and the final hit does 16%, for a total of 32%. The initial hit does not deal chip damage. Final Smash 1: Wolfen Bad Tomorrow *Requires at least half his Super Smash Meter to be filled. *Done with Down, Down Forward, Forward + Special + Attack. Wolf mutters "We're gonna have fun with this thing!" and calls a Wolfen, then quickly rushes forward with a slashing attack for 3/4th Final Destination distance. If it connects, Wolf attacks with a huge barrage of slashing attacks then launches the opponent into the sky. He follows that up with a powered version of his Donnell Launcher, which launches the opponent into the air for one last below. It ends with Wolf shooting the foe while in the Wolfen, saying "See? Told ya. That was fun, I think we can both agree." Like with his Clash Attack, it is possible to hit multiple characters with it. A hilarious and very flashy attack, it's also pretty useful. The slash will QUICKLY travel it's full distance once it starts on frame 14. It has some invincibility on it (first 11 frames) although they sadly don't last until the actual attack hits, so much like your Clash Attack you can't use this as an anti-projectile attack. It's a little harder to combo into as well, but it's possible; Clash Canceling a Star Rampage or Donnell Launcher anti-air into this makes it easy. Basically Wolf's Final Smash against other up close and personal characters. This attack does 76-106%, depending on how much the Super Smash Meter was charged. The first hit doesn't do chip damage. Final Smash 2: Sniper Cannon *Requires at least half his Super Smash Meter to be filled. *Done with Down, Down Back, Back + Special + Attack. Wolf mutters "Let's see how you're gonna deal with THIS" and takes out the Sniper Rifle weapon from Star Fox: Assault. He then shoots one extremely powerful, extremely fast traveling shot. This is noticeably weaker than your first Final Smash (full charge kill percents: 26% versus 50%) but it has invincibility leading into the attacking frames and is one of the fastest Final Smashes in the game aside from throws. The +6 priority on the projectile and speed it travels makes it great to punish even Falco's one shot tilt blasters on reaction. It's not hard to combo into either, but your first Final Smash provides a lot more reward for comboing into. Use this against characters with dominate projectiles Wolf's standard Blaster can't deal with; this will scare them out of throwing even one projectile which you can punish severely. Very nice. This attack does 54-75, depending on how much the Super Smash Meter is filled. It does 10-14% chip damage if blocked. Other Taunts and Victory Poses On-screen appearance In The Dark Tournament: Adventure Mode Competitive Tactics and Advice Match-ups Advanced techniques Costume Colors Trophies and Profile information Challenge Wall rewards Trivia *Wolf's Side Special Move, Up Special Move, Clash Attack and Final Smash 1 all had different names when Wolf's initial moveset was devised. Side Special was called Berserker Rush, Up Special was called Berserker Windmill, Clash Attack was called Bayonet Slash and Final Smash 1 was called Berserker Finale. External links Category: Characters (Clash) Category: Star Fox universe